The scourge of China (one) - six British aggressions against China

China's modern history begins with the First Opium War in 1840 and ends with the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

The 100-year history of modern China is a history of blood and tears of the Chinese people's anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism, as well as a history of humiliation.

In this history of humiliation, the damage caused by British aggression against China was extremely serious, and China was beaten down almost every time.

In a hundred years of modern history, Britain has invaded China a total of six times, destroyed China five times, and won only one small victory for China.

Let us review the six British aggressions against China, not forgetting national shame and remembering history.

The first British aggression against China - the First Opium War

In the history of China, the first country to invade China was Britain, and the history of humiliation and blood and tears in modern China began with Britain's first invasion of China and ended with the failure of the sixth British invasion of China.

The first country in history to brutally shoot China was the United Kingdom.

Opium is poison that harms the people, but in order to chase super profits, Britain directly and nakedly arms sold opium to China and mutilated Chinese people. This practice shook the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, which naturally began smoking bans.

In June 1840, under the pretext of Lin Zexu's sale of cigarettes, Britain sent 47 warships and 4,000 troops for two years, and in August 1842, it defeated the Qing Dynasty.

China called it the "First Opium War" and the British called it the "First Sino-British War" or "Trade War."

4,000 Britons with guns made of gunpowder invented by Chinese smashed 400 million Chinese with spears and knives. Forced the Qing government in China to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, which humiliated the country, and compensated Britain with 21 million taels of silver. Each British soldier earned 5,000 taels of silver to the British government in two years, which was equivalent to 2.5 million yuan per British soldier.

In addition to reparations and the cession of Hong Kong Island to Britain, China's territory was no longer intact. The British government forced the Qing government to open important coastal ports, opening the door to old China.

The First Opium War began the humiliating history of China's Qing government's land cession and reparations.

Second, Britain's second aggression against China - the Second Opium War

The Second Opium War was a war of aggression against China jointly launched by Britain and France from October 1856 to October 1860 with the support of the United States and Russia.

In 1854, the Treaty of Nanjing signed in the First Opium War expired twelve years ago. In order to maximize its interests, the British government requested the Qing government to comprehensively revise the Treaty of Nanjing. Demand that the entire territory of China be opened to trade and that the opium trade be legalized. France and the United States have also separately called for amendments to the treaty. The Qing government refused, and the negotiations were fruitless. In 1856, the Treaty of Mong-Hat expired for twelve years. The United States, with the support of Britain and France, once again put forward a request for a comprehensive revision of the treaty, but it was still rejected by the Qing government. As a result, the Western powers resolved to wage a new war of aggression against China.

In October 1856, the British colonialists fought over the pretext and invaded China, known as the "Second Opium War".

The Second Opium War lasted four years, and the Anglo-French army invaded Beijing in 1860 and burned the Old Summer Palace to the ground.

In the "Second Opium War", the Anglo-French army forced the Qing government to sign the Treaty of Tianjin, the Sino-British Treaty of Beijing, and the Sino-French Treaty of Beijing, and the war ended.

According to the treaty, the Qing government compensated Britain 8.5 million taels of silver and France 8.2 million taels of silver, totaling more than 16 million taels of silver.

In the two Opium Wars, the Qing government paid a total of 40 million taels of silver, equivalent to 100 billion yuan.

In the Second Opium War, Russia took advantage of the fire and looting and forced the Qing government to sign the Sino-Russian Treaty of Aihu, and the Qing government ceded about 600,000 square kilometers of land to Russia.

3. Britain's third aggression against China - the First Tibet War

The third British invasion was to launch an invasion of Tibet.

After occupying India and Nepal, the British sent an armed force of about 300 men to invade the border between Sikkim and Yadong in 1888 and launched an attack on the Tibetan army stationed at Mount Longtu, beginning the invasion of Tibet, China.

Compared with the British army, the Tibetan army has a two-and-a-half generation gap in weapons. The British army had light and heavy machine guns and artillery, while the Chinese army was still a fire bolt, and the gap in weapons and the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government were doomed to failure.

After six days of fierce fighting, the Tibetan army suffered too many casualties, Longtu Mountain was lost, and the local government of Tibet was forced to sign the Treaty of Lhasa with the British.

However, the Qing government did not agree to this treaty.

4. Britain's fourth aggression against China - the First and Second Tibet Wars

Due to the first Tibetan War, the British did not gain much profit, so the British launched the Second Tibetan War.

In 1903, British troops set out from the previously occupied Mount Longtu and captured the transportation stronghold of Parizong in December 1903, expelling Tibetan officials, and war broke out.

Although the Chinese army resisted for more than one year, the British army occupied Shigatse and Lhasa, and the 13th Dalai Lama fled first to Qinghai and then to Ulabaatar in Outer Mongolia.

The most famous of these Chinese armies fought hard to defend Lhasa. In the end, 500 Tibetan soldiers jumped off a cliff and were martyred, and British troops occupied Lhasa.

On April 27, 1906, the Sino-British Treaty of Renewal-Tibet-India was signed with Britain in Beijing. The Qing government again paid reparations and gave a large amount of expediency to the British.

The war ended with reparations and the transfer of sovereignty.

5. Britain's fifth aggression against China - the Eight-Power Alliance's War of Aggression against China

Britain's fifth invasion of China was in 1900, when Britain organized eight countries to jointly attack China.

In the spring of 1900, the Boxer Rebellion became the trigger for the Eight-Power Coalition's war of aggression against China. In the name of suppressing the Boxers, the Eight-Nation Alliance divided and plundered China.

On June 10, 1900, the Eight-Nation Alliance landed from Tianjin, invincible all the way, and captured Beijing. In a panic, Empress Dowager Cixi fled in embarrassment and left the Forbidden City.

In the process of the Eight-Nation Coalition invading Beijing, the Boxers, although stubbornly resisted, paid a heavy price. In the end, due to internal and external troubles, the Boxers failed and withdrew from Beijing.

After the eight-nation coalition army invaded and occupied Beijing, it began a full-scale occupation of China, burning, killing, and looting everywhere it went. The most notorious is the "Burning Old Summer Palace".

In the Second Opium War, the Anglo-French army occupied the Old Summer Palace and burned and looted it. The fire lasted for three days, and 300 female eunuchs were burned to death in despair or thrown into the lake to commit suicide, resulting in the looting of a large amount of gold and silver jewelry and the loss of 1.5 million precious cultural relics. This was the first time that the Anglo-French army burned the Old Summer Palace.

After the Old Summer Palace burned down, the Qing government restored the remaining palaces and attractions. After the eight-nation coalition invaded Beijing, the Old Summer Palace was completely looted and burned. At this point, the Old Summer Palace became a legend.

In the end, in order to retain its position, the Qing government signed the Xinxiu Treaty, which humiliated the country. Since then, the Qing government has become a puppet of imperialism, and China has completely become a colony.

In the Xinxiu Treaty, the eight-nation coalition army was compensated 450 million taels of silver. At that time, China had a total population of 450 million, and each person compensated one or two silver, which was a great insult to the Chinese people.

In the Eight-Power Alliance, Britain received a total of 111.4 million taels of silver in principal and interest.

V. Britain's sixth aggression against China - the Yangtze River artillery battle

In April 1949, on the eve of the PLA's crossing of the river, the PLA demanded that foreign ships must withdraw from the Yangtze River on April 20. The British frigate "Purple Quartz" ignored the deadline for the People's Liberation Army to withdraw from the Yangtze River and forcibly broke into the section of the river that was scheduled to cross the river on the front line of our army.

China in 1949 was no longer the China ruled by the corrupt and incompetent Qing government; The heroic and invincible PLA is not a weak and incompetent Qing soldier.

The British army, still immersed in the joy of the Opium War, ignored the warnings of the PLA and broke into the Yangtze River without scruples, this time the PLA did not habituate the British.

The PLA did not hesitate to shell the British warship "Purple Quartz". After the artillery battle between the two sides, the warship "Purple Quartz" was hit by the PLA, the captain was seriously injured and killed, the "Purple Quartz" was seriously injured and stranded, and the destroyer "Companion" and the frigate "Black Swan" were repulsed. In the end, the warship "Purple Quartz" surrendered under the white flag.

The First Artillery Battle of the Yangtze ended with the surrender of the British.

In order to rescue the "Purple Quartz", the British warship "Companion" also broke into the Yangtze River again in order to regain the dignity of the British Empire. The PLA took the lead in shelling the "Companion", and in less than five minutes, the "Companion" was hit and burst into flames, and finally ran aground, and the captain abandoned the ship and fled in order to escape for his life.

When the news reached Britain, the whole country was shocked. Lieutenant General Maiden, who is not afraid of death, is here again. Maiden won the lottery and led the British ace warship "Black Swan" to challenge the PLA again.

Maiden won the lottery thinking that as soon as the "black swan" appeared, the PLA would scatter and flee, and he would regain dignity for the British Empire.

With a clarion call, raindrops of shells flew towards the "black swan", and in an instant the "black swan" was hit and caught fire, and Maiden was seriously injured in the lottery. In the end, Maiden won the lottery and raised the white flag and surrendered to the heroic PLA.

In the Yangtze River artillery battle, Britain twice hoisted the white flag, declaring complete defeat. The heroic People's Liberation Army won the mighty British Empire.

The Yangtze River artillery battle showed the firm determination and strong courage of the Communist Party of China to defend national sovereignty, and also marked the final end of the "gunboat diplomacy" of Britain and other powers in China.

In modern history, Britain has invaded China six times, and the damage and losses caused to China are immeasurable.